Mortar board cap



1933. A. B. BRANDER' MORTAR BOARD CAP Filed July 26, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l lfiuantor wen/.5. Bra/ate 7 9? Nov. 7, 1933. A. B. BRANDER MORTAR BOARD GAP Filed July 26. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 7, 1933 UNITED STATES 4 Claims.

Mortar board caps worn at graduation exercises are, as a rule, rented for the occasion. The assortment of sizes required to fit each student varies with each class. In consequence it is customary to stock caps in assorted sizes (as many as eight different sizes), procure a list of sizes for each class lot, and deliver a liberal excess to take care of unavoidable variation in size of caps and errors in listing the sizes thought to be required. Hence excessive stocks must be carried by the renter, and the number of rental fees is ever less than the number of caps supplied.

It is one object of this invention to provide a crown that will fit any head within the usual range of sizes and present a neat finished appearance in use.

The mortar board top prevents the crowns from being nested for storing and shipping, and, therefore, excessive store house, shipping case, and lading space has been required to handle them.

An attempt has been made to overcome this difficulty by using soft foldable crowns, but they lack the neat appearance required for such formal dress, and for that reason are not as profitable as caps with well formed crowns.

Another object of this invention is to make the mortar boards readily attachable to and detachable from the crowns, so that the boards may be stacked and crowns nested for storing and shipping, whereby much space and money are saved.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be revealed as the disclosure proceeds and the description is read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the cap assembled;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view with the fastenings released and mortar board displaced from the crown;

Figs. 3 and 4 are plane developments of crown bodies used in making the crown;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a reinforcing ring used in the flattened top of the crown;

Fig. 6 is a plane development of a blank used to cover one-half of the crown;

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section through the cap; I

Fig. 8 is a transverse section taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a transverse section taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 7;

. Fig. 10 is a longitudinal section through a fragment of the top of the crown, showing, the snap fastener in open position; and

Fig.11 is a perspective view :of the snap fastener in closed position. i s 6 But these drawings and the specific description that follows are used for the purpose of disclosure only, for the substance of the invention may beembodied in many other forms.

The mortar board top 10 comprises a square of card board, wood, aluminum, or the like; covered with a square more than twice as large of broadcloth 11, with the corners-folded under the bottom and the edges joined along the diagonals at the bottom of the-board. All this is conventional, as is also the button 12 and the tassel .13.

The crown 14 is of conventional shape, fiattened at the top, 15, with curving sides, as usual.

It comprises two crown bodies 16, 17,- fastened together at the top and slit at'the sides so that 7 plane developments would look approximately shown in Figs. 3 and 4, with the slits 18 in the crown 16 staggered with respect to the slits 19 in the crown 17. The front and back tongues 20, 21, 22 and 23 have their edges bound with so thin strips, 24, of tin, brass, aluminum, or the like, and, of course, the edges of the tongues may also be bound, but will usually not be necessary.

The two crown bodies are assembled, as shown in Fig. 7, and the sides are covered with jersey cloth 25, made of two pieces, substantially as shown in Fig. 6, sewed together at the front and back. The lower edge or rim of the crown thus formed is bound with a strip of elastic 26, and fitted with a sweat band formed of separate folded sections 27, of leather, cloth, or the like. Both sides of the elastic strip and the adjacent side of the sweat band sections are stitched (see Figs. 7 and 9) at 28, through the tongues of the outer crown body 17, and between the tongues of the inner crown body 16, and also at 29 through the tongues of the crown body 16and between the tongues of the crown body 1'7.

A conventional hat lining 30 is inserted within the crown, and its lower rim or edge received within the free sides of the sweat band sections 27, as best shown in Fig. 7. Notall of the sweat band sections are shown in this figure, asthe figure is intended to illustrate the manner in. 05-

which the sections are applied to the lining.

The marginal area of the flattened portion of the crown is reinforced by a ring 31, of aluminum, sheet iron or the like, cemented in place against the inner crown body, and both the ring PATENT oF icE; a

and the crown are provided with rectangular openings 32.

The mortar board is equipped with two snap fasteners, arranged lengthwise with respect to the crown and placed opposite the openings 32. Each of these fasteners includes a base plate 33, having side portions 34 formed up to make trunnion bearings, and a tongue portion 35 forming a spring. 'A snap lever has trunnions 36, journaled in the bearings, a long arm 3'1 attached in the positions shown in Figs. 10 and 11, and a short bent arm 38 adapted to cooperate with the spring tongue 35, to hold the long arm in the respective positions in the familiar manner.

The mortar board top and the crown are easily assembled by setting the snap insteners at the position shown in Fig. 2, inserting the arms 37 through the openings 32, and folding them to the positions shown in Figs. 7 and 11. It is immaterial whether the liningis on one side or the other of thearms 3'7, though-the latter are somewhat protected from entanglement of the students hair with the lining, as shown'in Fig. 7.

The crown, constructed as shown and described, is sufiiciently stiff to-present a neat and finished appearance, and the jersey cloth is hardly distinguishable from broadcloth under the conditions of use. Such a crown, however, made in a normal size corresponding to that of the smallest size in conventional caps will readily stretch to comfortably fit any head between that and the size corresponding 'to the largest cap usually in stock. Upon being removed from a large head it will assume its normal size.- The jersey cloth is sufficientlyelastic to conform with the expansion and contraction.

It has been found to'be satisfactory to make the crown bodies of the hat maker's buckram ordinarily --used in making crowns. Each of the conventional crowns is composed of a number of layers of this buckram treated withsome stiffening compound, and two such crowns, slitted in staggered relation and assembled as described,

are obviously not the only ones that could be used. For example, the crown bodies could be made of aluminum, celluloid, and such like, per- .forated to ailord appropriate ventilation. The

snap fasteners can be selected at will. The jersey cloth can be replaced by other materials out on thebias in order to obtain the necessary elesticity.

I claim as my invention:-

1. A cap comprising a crown sufiiciently stiff to-support its finished shape and a mortar board, and readily operable means for securing them together and releasing them for separation, the means including a lever adapted to project transversely from the mortar board when released and. along the mortar board when fastened.

2. A can comprising nested crown bodies slitted upwardly from the bottom with the slits of each staggered with respect to the slits of the other, an elastic binding at the bottom and an elastic cover.

3., A cap comprising nested crown bodies of hat, makers buclzram slitted upwardly from the bottom with the slits of each staggered with respect to the slits of the other, an elastic binding at the bottom and-an elastic cover.

4. A cap comprising nested crown bodies slitted upwardly from the bottom with the slits 

